Follow Us on Google
•Complain of poor and irregular salary, lack of teaching materials, unfriendly work environment
By Ngozi Nwoke
The Nigerian government has been urged to search for better ways to urgently address the various challenges facing teachers in the country.
For many years, teachers have been encumbered by many problems and these invariably affect their productivity or performance. The problems include inadequate and non payment of salary as at when due as well as lack of teaching materials.
Mrs. Queeneth Kingsley, a 41-year-old teacher with four years teaching experience in Iponri Grammar School, Laogos, said it is her passion for the noble profession that has continued to inspire her, stressing that teachers are underrated, disregarded and neglected both by the government and society.
She said: “The teaching profession, being the best and most prestigious profession in the world is surprisingly the most underrated. It is baffling to see young people who are considering a career path look down on teaching.
“Most people are ashamed to be identified as teachers. Everyone wants to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, and so on. But only few people want to proudly take up a career in teaching.
“Aside from the issue of salaries, which is why teaching is regarded as a poor man’s carreer, all state governments also ought to put in place adequate welfare packages that can make teachers really happy and proud of their profession. This can be done by ensuring that teachers who have put in a number of years into teaching qualify automatically to own their own homes in addition to receiving keys to their own vehicles even if they have to pay for them through mortgage. With such provisions, teachers will be able to put their minds at rest and face the task before them squarely. But quite unfortunately, teachers in Nigeria are relegated to the background and no one appears to bother about their plight.
“Teachers face so much hard times and live an entire life full of struggles, especially in states where salaries are not paid regularly. While many, especially those in the urban centres, face the problem of accommodation and most times are forced to live in the remotest part of the city where house rents are low, they however face the problem of transportation as they have to travel long distances to their schools and this somehow affects their general output.
“Fortunately, teachers belong to a union, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) that ought to champion their cause and articulate their troubles. However, most times these unions are manned by people who lack proper articulation and are completely bereft of ideas of how to go about fighting the cause of their teeming members.
Again, it is only those in the government’s employment that have the benefit of unionism while their private school counterparts are never allowed to belong to any union and they face the twin tragedy of ill-treatment by their employers and very poor wages which are not even regular.
“Yet, these are full-blooded Nigerians who had spent years burning the midnight oil now being treated like second-class citizens in their own land. A time has come for the government to come to the rescue of teachers of private schools by making pronouncements that can assuage their sufferings. But rather than search for ways to address these nagging problems confronting teachers, successive governments shun real issues and concentrate all attention on other peripherals.”
Another teacher in Alliant College, Peace Nwoke, a single young teacher, who is some months old in the teaching career narrated her ordeal.
She stated: “I chose the teaching profession because I have always wanted to be one who people will look up to also not just as a teacher teaching the subjects but one who can add value and communicate with children know their weaknesses and try to help them improve in areas not just in the class room learning but also outside the class room.
“Also, teaching is the only profession that gives room for staff to rest. We have the mid term breaks, the Easter holiday, Christmas holiday, summer or long vacation and also public holidays. Most establishments do not give room for all these holidays. But in the teaching profession, a teacher deserves to have a break from work and rest.
“The challenges I face as a teacher is unavailability of instructional materials. The school should be able to provide instructional materials to aid in teaching and learning. Instructional materials like charts, textbooks and all the materials for teaching are not meant to be obtained by teachers alone. The school should try their possible best to provide these materials to aid learning.
“Another challenge is that some parents do not pay attention to the school work of their children; they don’t assist their children with assignments. In most cases, these parents write the answers for them. Meanwhile, their job is to put them through not virtually doing everything for them.
“My expectations as a teacher is that as a teacher, I should be appreciated and the work put into the lives of children should be appreciated. I expect that parents should assist their children and also the teachers. The parents spend more time with their children and so while their children are home, they should also assist their children and make the job easier for the teachers. Most parents feel the teacher has the whole job to do. Meanwhile, as teachers, we do not accompany the children home. So, while the children are at home, the parents should be their teachers.
“Lastly, I expect that whenever a complaint is made to the management or the parents and a solution is given by the teacher, it should be taken because the teacher knows the weakness of that particular child and also knows how to proffer solution. All clamours are about professionalism even when nothing is being done to guarantee the qualities of those branded as such.
“It is a sad irony that due to government’s insistence on professionalism, teaching appointments are now open only to charlatans who possess education certificates. That is in spite of the fact that most of them are unable to express themselves in simple and correct English Language.
“So, while the very knowledgeable graduates who can make a difference in the schools are shut out, the very poor ones are allowed to fill up all the schools’ vacancies. What is all the hues and cries about professionalism when our teacher training colleges and education departments of universities are still populated by candidates with the lowest grades?”
Blessing Duye, a Basic 3 teacher, who has seven years experience in the profession and teaches at Brain Child Academy, Ijesha, Lagos, attributed the cause of the neglect to lack of professionalism. She added that for the issue of professionalism to work, the stakes in the nation’s teacher training colleges and education departments of universities must be raised such that only the best can gain admission there.
She noted: “A lot of people who chose teaching as a career is becuase is always available. Is not because they have passion for it. For the teaching profession to be regarded as a noble one, teacher traning colleges and education departments must be made difficult to get in with stringent demands. That done, the profession will be able to parade the very best and then the issue of professionalism may suffice.
“It is also when that is achieved that the so-called Teachers Registration Council which mandate as at now is difficult to ascertain will become more meaningful. For now, while the leadership of this phoney council is hell-bent on having all teachers in Nigeria within its fold, the other germane factor of quality of teachers is ignored. The import is that all manners of teachers have now come under the umbrella of TRC even when the genuineness of their certificates is in doubt.
“The disappointing revelation about teachers’ performance in a simple aptitude test carried out in Kwara State some years back, and another mind-boggling drama in Edo State during the regime of Adams Oshiomhole, both of which were swept under the carpet because of politics, are clear indication that Nigeria needs a complete overhaul of its teacher-training processes.
“While argument about teachers being neglected and the demand on teachers’ salaries to be increased is ongoing, the government must first of all put adequate measures in place to guarantee the quality of its teaching force. By so doing, the nation will be able to beat its chest as to the high standard of its teachers.”
Belinda Alfred added: “Despite having the great responsibility of moulding the future of Nigeria, the welfare package of the Nigerian teacher is among the worst in the country. They operate from not too friendly work environments with meagre and irregular salaries.
“Most teachers lack the passion for the profession and are not properly trained on what it takes to be a 21st century teacher and when they are trained, they lack the necessary instructional materials to carry out their jobs and yet they are the first to be blamed for poor students’ achievement.
“The plight of Nigeria’s teachers is pitiful as many of them have died of hunger, diseases and frustration. The system has turned a good number of them into beggars and destitutes such that the younger generation dread the idea of becoming teachers in the future. If our teachers are not appreciated and recognized, they would be forced to turn their noble job of inspiring the youth to higher academic excellence into positions of creating ‘internet fraudsters ’ and ‘prostitutes ’ in our schools.”
Calling on employers of teachers to consider increasing salaries and other remunerations for teachers to enable them discharge their duties effectively and in a conducive manner, 54-year-old Mr. Benaiah Onyewuche, a teacher with 25 years teaching experience at Federal Government College, Port Harcourt and married with three children, points out that Nigerian teachers are de-motivated because their remuneration is abysmally low.
He said: “In the past, teachers were motivated and had no option than to perform. But today, teachers’ pay is so low that most of them can barely put food on their tables by the time they settle their children school fees, utility and medical bills. Yet they are expected to perform magic.
“It is quite absurd that under this unpalatable conditions, they are expected to produce those that will grow up to become leaders of tomorrow. They are expected to perform wonders in bare classrooms as they are derogatorily compared with teachers in other countries or teachers of the past.
“The situation of Nigerian teachers in the past was not as bad as it is today. Let me take you down memory lane: we all remember how teachers were revered in villages. Teachers were next to the village heads or chiefs. In short, in Nigeria today, teachers are de-motivated and so I say to whom less is given, less should be expected.”
